Spoon!! have you tried that KC spoon? great action.
- A_SteamingLombardi

Actually have something similar my buddy discovered at the dollar store a couple of years ago. Copper with red tail. We call it the antagonizer because the fish just beat the crap out of it. They stopped carrying them after we cleaned them out. They were 2 for 3 bucks. I'm down to my last one. Caught 4 on it a couple of days ago. I always lean to spoon at this time of year.

Nucker hasn’t made a sincere post in 6 months: I mean everything I write. If another GM was bright in to replace Benning and made these trades/ signings he would have a statue in front of the rink. It was remarkable. Remaking half the roster, building Abby, great RFA signings plus some decent UFA signings for a change. He should have been fired. He wasn’t, and had a brilliant offseason
- CanuckDon

this statement just goes to show, literally how low the bar is for what is a successful off season and what the expectations are for this franchise and its GM.
Our GM fixes mistakes with valuable future currency and we praise him as doing a remarkable job (in year 7). Other GM's make their team stronger each offseason and no one says a thing.

Remarkable to me is trading Seth Jones for Boqvist, 2 first round draft picks and a 2nd round draft pick.

Remarkable is paying pennies on the dollar for a good player in Pavel Buchnevich.

If Benning paying a 1st and a 2nd for Garland and OEL and offloading mistakes is "remarkable", then I can't wait to see what we praise the next GM for just not being Benning lol

this statement just goes to show, literally how low the bar is for what is a successful off season and what the expectations are for this franchise and its GM.
Our GM fixes mistakes with valuable future currency and we praise him as doing a remarkable job (in year 7). Other GM's make their team stronger each offseason and no one says a thing.

Remarkable to me is trading Seth Jones for Boqvist, 2 first round draft picks and a 2nd round draft pick.

Remarkable is paying pennies on the dollar for a good player in Pavel Buchnevich.

If Benning paying a 1st and a 2nd for Garland and OEL and offloading mistakes is "remarkable", then I can't wait to see what we praise the next GM for just not being Benning lol
- Codes1087

I guess agree to disagree. I think he had an incredible offseason viewed in isolation. If you can’t separate previous offseasons from the current one that’s on you. Don’t be so emotional

Was there outrage?
- A_SteamingLombardi

No.

No.
- Marwood

Gaudette is a good dude for casual fans to remember. Most
Overhyped garbage in a long time. Most prospects fizzle

I guess agree to disagree. I think he had an incredible offseason viewed in isolation. If you can’t separate previous offseasons from the current one that’s on you. Don’t be so emotional
- CanuckDon

Not emotional at all. I just don't think we should be patting the guy's back for finally making good on making a team better in an off season in year 7. And I'm not separating off seasons, it's one GMs tenure. Are we this obtuse to forget everything he has done prior and only judge him on a year by year basis? His contracts were 6 years for Louie, 5 for Myers, 4 for roussel, 3 for Beagle, and took on 6 more of OEL, but we are only supposed to judge his work in a year by year basis? Come on Donny lol

Gaudette is a good dude for casual fans to remember. Most
Overhyped garbage in a long time. Most prospects fizzle
- CanuckDon

I was happy to be rid of the arrogant wife-kicker. A frail pretty boy, he should play for the Leafs.

Not emotional at all. I just don't think we should be patting the guy's back for finally making good on making a team better in an off season in year 7. And I'm not separating off seasons, it's one GMs tenure. Are we this obtuse to forget everything he has done prior and only judge him on a year by year basis? His contracts were 6 years for Louie, 5 for Myers, 4 for roussel, 3 for Beagle, and took on 6 more of OEL, but we are only supposed to judge his work in a year by year basis? Come on Donny lol
- Codes1087

I didn’t say is a good GM or we should forgive past failures. I said he had a great offseason 🤷‍♂️

I guess agree to disagree. I think he had an incredible offseason viewed in isolation. If you can’t separate previous offseasons from the current one that’s on you. Don’t be so emotional
- CanuckDon

That's like saying the Canucks are a good playoff team because they did well in the Bubble. I mean, in isolation, ya – but that excludes the very necessary context.

Benning had a good offseason by his standards, but it's also a highly risky offseason. He sold off a lot of futures on a pricey gamble and top 6 player while also cleaning up the mess he himself made. Is the team better than it was? Sure. But the team it's better than was also a year-after-year JB-constructed team that fell apart multiple times, and he decided to push his chips in on this version of them. If they falter, it's an even longer way down than it was before.

He did well building Abby, that was a long time coming and was much needed for this franchise.

That's like saying the Canucks are a good playoff team because they did well in the Bubble. I mean, in isolation, ya – but that excludes the very necessary context.

Benning had a good offseason by his standards, but it's also a highly risky offseason. He sold off a lot of futures on a pricey gamble and top 6 player while also cleaning up the mess he himself made. Is the team better than it was? Sure. But the team it's better than was also a year-after-year JB-constructed team that fell apart multiple times, and he decided to push his chips in on this version of them. If they falter, it's an even longer way down than it was before.

He did well building Abby, that was a long time coming and was much needed for this franchise.
- NewYorkNuck

This ^

That's like saying the Canucks are a good playoff team because they did well in the Bubble. I mean, in isolation, ya – but that excludes the very necessary context.

Benning had a good offseason by his standards, but it's also a highly risky offseason. He sold off a lot of futures on a pricey gamble and top 6 player while also cleaning up the mess he himself made. Is the team better than it was? Sure. But the team it's better than was also a year-after-year JB-constructed team that fell apart multiple times, and he decided to push his chips in on this version of them. If they falter, it's an even longer way down than it was before.

He did well building Abby, that was a long time coming and was much needed for this franchise.
- NewYorkNuck

Codes alt confirmed

Highmore didn't score last night and Gaudette has played 2 games
- VANTEL

Not emotional at all. I just don't think we should be patting the guy's back for finally making good on making a team better in an off season in year 7. And I'm not separating off seasons, it's one GMs tenure. Are we this obtuse to forget everything he has done prior and only judge him on a year by year basis? His contracts were 6 years for Louie, 5 for Myers, 4 for roussel, 3 for Beagle, and took on 6 more of OEL, but we are only supposed to judge his work in a year by year basis? Come on Donny lol
- Codes1087

Put it this way, take every off season Benning has had and rate them, I think you'll find this was one of his best, even if he's just cleaning up his past mistakes. I wanted him fired years ago and I still do but I'll admit he had a good off season.

Codes alt confirmed
- CanuckDon

People with alts have way too much time on their hands. I really wish they would just ban all the second and third accounts, or have Makita put out the list of who is who

People with alts have way too much time on their hands. I really wish they would just ban all the second and third accounts, or have Makita put out the list of who is who
- NewYorkNuck

Makita? He is the damn alt ring leader

Put it this way, take every off season Benning has had and rate them, I think you'll find this was one of his best, even if he's just cleaning up his past mistakes. I wanted him fired years ago and I still do but I'll admit he had a good off season.
- A_SteamingLombardi

I won't call it a good off season unless we make the playoffs, that was the goal and the reason he made those moves, if we miss then it was a terrible offseason and the entire Canucks management and coaching staff will be fired and we can start all over again next year. I laugh at the people wanting to defend Benning and I laugh at the people who are all "Fire Benning".

He deserves credit for fixing his mistakes and making the team better on paper, but he also rightly deserves criticism for having to fix them in the first place. He is on the hot seat (and so is Green) and his minimum requirement is to at least make the playoffs and maybe win a round or two. He does that, his leash gets a little longer, if not he's gone.

Put it this way, take every off season Benning has had and rate them, I think you'll find this was one of his best, even if he's just cleaning up his past mistakes. I wanted him fired years ago and I still do but I'll admit he had a good off season.
- A_SteamingLombardi

Without a doubt it's his best, I won't take that away. I just don't think the guy deserves praise for simultaneously fixing his own mistakes and making them team better by paying premiums in future assets.

If OEL and Garland were his targets all along the acquisition cost would have been fractions of the cost if they didn't need to include 3 anchors and 12 million in dead weight going the other way (his big mistakes)

It was his best off season for sure, in year 7 of his tenure. The bar to me is barely off the ground if that is our benchmark.

Codes alt confirmed
- CanuckDon

Alts are for pu$$ies

I won't call it a good off season unless we make the playoffs, that was the goal and the reason he made those moves, if we miss then it was a terrible offseason and the entire Canucks management and coaching staff will be fired and we can start all over again next year. I laugh at the people wanting to defend Benning and I laugh at the people who are all "Fire Benning".

He deserves credit for fixing his mistakes and making the team better on paper, but he also rightly deserves criticism for having to fix them in the first place. He is on the hot seat (and so is Green) and his minimum requirement is to at least make the playoffs and maybe win a round or two. He does that, his leash gets a little longer, if not he's gone.
- DariusKnight

Win win

Without a doubt it's his best, I won't take that away. I just don't think the guy deserves praise for simultaneously fixing his own mistakes and making them team better by paying premiums in future assets.

If OEL and Garland were his targets all along the acquisition cost would have been fractions of the cost if they didn't need to include 3 anchors and 12 million in dead weight going the other way (his big mistakes)

It was his best off season for sure, in year 7 of his tenure. The bar to me is barely off the ground if that is our benchmark.
- Codes1087

He did have to beg ownership for 2 more years.

Without a doubt it's his best, I won't take that away. I just don't think the guy deserves praise for simultaneously fixing his own mistakes and making them team better by paying premiums in future assets.

If OEL and Garland were his targets all along the acquisition cost would have been fractions of the cost if they didn't need to include 3 anchors and 12 million in dead weight going the other way (his big mistakes)

It was his best off season for sure, in year 7 of his tenure. The bar to me is barely off the ground if that is our benchmark.
- Codes1087

Yup.

People with alts have way too much time on their hands. I really wish they would just ban all the second and third accounts, or have Makita put out the list of who is who
- NewYorkNuck

Totes

Without a doubt it's his best, I won't take that away. I just don't think the guy deserves praise for simultaneously fixing his own mistakes and making them team better by paying premiums in future assets.

If OEL and Garland were his targets all along the acquisition cost would have been fractions of the cost if they didn't need to include 3 anchors and 12 million in dead weight going the other way (his big mistakes)

It was his best off season for sure, in year 7 of his tenure. The bar to me is barely off the ground if that is our benchmark.
- Codes1087

Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and any team looking to take the next step has done it, it's not unique solely to us. That said, those teams have (for the most part) made the playoffs and so they can be forgiven much more easily for the failures they made than JB can because he's been unable to make the playoffs with his core and moves consistently and I maintain that had COVID-19 not shut down the 19-20 season and the bubble put in place with the extra play-in round, we weren't going to make the playoffs that year as we were already on the outside looking in when the league shutdown and trending downwards.

When Jim Benning made his most notorious FA signings, the Canucks outlook each time was still pretty bleak. In the beginning, there was only Horvat - and he was starting on the 4th line. The Canucks cupboards were literally empty and he had to do what he had to do to ice a line-up that he thought wouldn't get slaughtered every night. To get players to want to come to a Canadian market is already difficult (and on a declining team*) - so him overpaying for FAs had to be a given. Cue 2-3 years in, after Horvat and Boeser - that wasn't enough to form a solid core. So more FA signings were made to insulate rookies and buy time for players to grow. Boy, did those players rise (Petey, Hughes!)

Coincidentally, all his FA signings were on terms that would end close to if not at the same time as when a new core could potentially be formed (and with the ARI dump we saw him wrap that up his experiments this offseason and make a move to improve at the same time with OEL + Garland). JB always said that he wants to rebuild quickly and tried to remain competitive at the same time. It didn't work out like what he had envisioned I bet, very poorly actually, but ultimately it came together. He very clearly has a plan given his long tenure - and I'm happy to see that he's winning more often than he's losing.

These FAs took the blunt of the disparagement from media while they were here and this probably helped the younglings immensely (you don't want your homegrown core players to feel all the pressure even if they can handle it, it's not good for their mental health, looking at you EDM). These FAs were proven players that could not live up to their new contracts - but they provided internal competition. If our own players couldn't convincingly supplant them, how could they be NHL ready? It sucks that the FAs didn't play well and the Canucks lost a lot, but they held the ship together until a new crew was ready - and I hope they make a big splash!

I am excited for the future, really excited. That's what I'm trying to say.

When Jim Benning made his most notorious FA signings, the Canucks outlook each time was still pretty bleak. In the beginning, there was only Horvat - and he was starting on the 4th line. The Canucks cupboards were literally empty and he had to do what he had to do to ice a line-up that he thought wouldn't get slaughtered every night. To get players to want to come to a Canadian market is already difficult - so him overpaying for FAs had to be a given. Cue 2-3 years in, after Horvat and Boeser - that wasn't enough to form a solid core. So more FA signings were made to insulate rookies and buy time for players to grow. Boy, did those players rise (Petey, Hughes!)

Coincidentally, all his FA signings were on terms that would end close to if not at the same time as when a new core could potentially be formed (and with the ARI dump we saw him wrap that up his experiments this offseason and make a move to improve at the same time with OEL + Garland). JB always said that he wants to rebuild quickly and tried to remain competitive at the same time. It didn't work out like what he had envisioned I bet, very poorly actually, but ultimately it came together. He very clearly has a plan given his long tenure - and I'm happy to see that he's winning more often than he's losing.

These FAs took the blunt of the disparagement from media while they were here and this probably helped the younglings immensely (you don't want your homegrown core players to feel all the pressure even if they can handle it, it's not good for their mental health, looking at you EDM). These FAs were proven players that could not live up to their new contracts - but they provided internal competition. If our own players couldn't convincingly supplant them, how could they be NHL ready? It sucks that the FAs didn't play well and the Canucks lost a lot, but they held the ship together until a new crew was ready - and I hope they make a big splash!

I am excited for the future, really excited. That's what I'm trying to say.
- louis8973

So, what you are trying to say is that you are looking forward to the next rebuild.